These 3 Spices Can Help With Gut Health

You likely already know that a well-stocked pantry filled with a selection of spices can help you cook flavorful dishes like a pro. But did you realize that some of these pantry staples have surprising health benefits? As we age, it’s important that we eat foods that can help tame yeast overgrowth in the gut. Too much yeast in the gut can cause excess belly fat, but rather than turning to ill-advised crash diets or expensive supplements, you can simply look to your spice rack for potential solutions. These three spice rack essentials aren’t just flavorful and fairly priced, they can also help keep you in good shape and boost your gut health.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon contains an antimicrobial oil that helps eradicate yeast and kill E. coli bacteria (a leading cause of UTIs) in the urinary tract. Plus, cinnamon can potentially stabilize blood sugar. Researchers have also found that incorporating cinnamon into your daily diet may reduce belly fat.

Garlic

Consuming just one raw clove of garlic daily can provide you with antifungal properties and enough enzyme power to suppress candida’s longevity gene, causing yeast cells to die prematurely. And the allicin in garlic helps break down blood lipids which can lead to more efficient slimming.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a broad-spectrum antifungal, thanks to its curcumin, which has been shown to reduce C. albicans’ ability to adhere to gut-wall cells, reducing the risk of leaky gut syndrome and improving gut health. Ingesting it daily can also help folks shed belly fat and may prevent prediabetes from progressing into diabetes.

This article originally appeared in our print magazine, First For Women.